this site is my collection of all things cocktail since 1980 • please give credit if used for media purposes • condensed mobile version coming soon
Screenshot images are from Wayback Machine. If anyone has
any copyright issues please let me know. And while visiting the WayBack Machine please donate a few dollars for this tremendous resource.
The First Bar and Cocktail Websites
It's an odd feeling looking at my first website above. I built it by learning HTML code then uploading to the web host Angelfire. At the time, there weren't one-stop resource sites on the "World Wide Web" unless you belonged to webrings (communities of like-minded websites linking together), so I decided to help the cocktail community by putting all the cocktail related links that I could find on my website to create a "one-stop cocktail resource." None of what I just typed will make sense to anyone unless you were born between 1960 - 1970, lol.
The website you are staring at is my fourth revamp, and let me tell you, it's a breeze with Wix.
1991
Bottlesup.com is the very first known cocktail related website put on the World Wide Web (Internet) by Chuck Rohm. He sold the first flair bartending video online.
Some terminology back in these days included World Wide Web, Netscape Navigator, AOL, dial-up, virtual, surfing, splash page, cyber, web rings, link pages, guestbooks, GeoCities, Yahoo, Banner Exchange, JavaScript, Angelfire, Compuserve, and Shockwave. Other normal occurrences was a screeching modem taking several minutes to log in and any website with an image took very long to load. Oh, and since the computer needed to be plugged into the phone line (landline), no one could make or receive any phone calls unless you signed off.
Feel free to check out some of these websites on the Wayback Machine.
1994
Bits Media Group, Inc. trademarked five domain names; CocktailClub.com, eDrink.com, HyperDrink.com, CocktailMail.com, and Cocktail Club International.com. As of 2018, Cocktail Club International is live using the domain CocktailClub.
1995
Barproducts.com | Mark Hastings launched barproducts.com.
Barnonedrinks.com | Dan & Carine Hutchinson and Jason Birch launched barnonedrinks.com.
Bartending.com | Master School of Bartending
Cocktail.com (defunct) | As of 2018 the domain is still owned by someone, but they are not using it.
MartiniPlace.com | Jared Brown and Anistatia Miller launched martiniplace.com (defunct) on Halloween. It was also called Shaken Not Stirred. Their second website is mixellany.com.
The Thistle & Joe Virtual Scottish Pub
Sallys-Place.com (defunct) | Sally Bernstein's food, beverage, and travel website that as of 2018 is still around. She just uses the domain sallybernstein.com. Check out her about page because she has accomplished a lot.
Webtender.com | Pål Løberg created Webtender, the first cocktail recipe database on the internet. As of 2018, he has never changed the original default grey design. It was a school project for him back then.
WorldofBeer.com | Renowned author and veteran beer writer, Steven Beaumont's website. It appears that he sold it maybe in 2017 and is starting a new site called beaumontdrinks.com.
1996
Adam's Cocktail Lounge | Created by Adam Parker living in Adelaide, South Australia who was a student, working at a local hotel with a hobby of cocktails.
Bacardi.com | They called it Bacardi Club on the site.
Barmedia.com | Author and beverage consultant Robert Plotkin launched barmedia.com (defunct).
Bartender.com | Ray Foley publishes Bartender Magazine in 1979 and in 1996 begins an online presence with Bartender.com. As of 2018, he also owns the domain mixologist.com.
Bartenderonline.com | Bobby Mcgee launched the first bartender school website, bartenderonline.com. He started with selling books and CD-ROMS then advanced from there.
BeerHunter.com | Famed beer expert, Michael Jackson's website. The site is still active as of 2018 even though he died in 2007.
MalibuRum.com & Malibu-Rum.com| In 2013 they added MalibuRumDrinks.com
Martiniclub.com | Michelle Hunt and Laura Panter launched Martiniclub.com.
Skyy.com | They put out an under construction and finally launched in the summer of 1997.
Stone Gate Tavern | A site by David Birkhead.
Tamboo.com | A club was formed in Minneapolis, MN called King Kini's Club Velvet. The website domain Tamboo.com has remained the same as of 2018, it looks the same.
Top Friends Cocktail Club | Stéphane Grialet was French and put out an English and French website. It started in 1989 as a band of friends in Toulouse then when the Internet came around she posted online to share with the world.
SouthernComfort.com
Stoli.com | Stolichnaya® Vodka launched Stoli.com.
Ultralounge.com (defunct) | Capitol Records created this cool looking website. It advertised a series of a swing revival albums with sounds of the 1950s and 1960s in genres such as exotica, space age, mambo and lounge.
1997
BarCar.com | This site is still live as of 2018 and looks exactly the same. The entire site is not about cocktails, but their menu bar has cocktails and it shows some railroad "bar cars".
Bardrinks.com | Their splash page site is still up and as of 2018, and it looks the same.
Barmagic.com | Tobin Ellis's barmagic.com was a Flair Bartending site and as of 2018, it is a hospitality design specialist site. The company started in 1994 as “Behind Bars Ltd” then rebranded as barmagic.com in 1997.
Maraschino's Motor City Cocktail Bar
Nemesis' Cyber Bar by Sherri Kidner. The tagline was "The Most Fascinating Site On The Web."
Smirnoff.com
The Bartend.com | The Bartender's Joke of the Day a.k.a. thebartend.com.
Worldwidedrinks.com | Bruce Tomlinson launched worldwidedrinks.com.
1998
Absolutvodka.com
Ardentspirits.com. Gary Regan launched ardentspirits.com (defunct). His second site is gazregan.com (defunct). Gary passed away in 2018, but his Facebook page is still active.
barasterie.com
barflair.org | Flair Bartenders Association (FBA) was launched by Jim Allison.
Barmeister.com (defunct) is launched.
Charmingbartricks.com | Miss Charming's Bar Hopping City. Later in 2000, I changed to miss-charming.com, misscharming.com, and cherylcharming.com.
Paul Harrington a.k.a. “The Alchemist” of cocktailtime.com (defunct) via www.hotwired.com (defunct) put out a beautiful color cocktail section of classic cocktails complete with history and notes. It was a game-changer and led to a published book.
Drinkboy.com. Robert Hess launched Drinkboy.com. Robert helped a lot of cocktail people with their websites including me and Gary Regan.
Joebeer.com (defunct). Launched by a guy from Virginia named Joe.
Kingcocktail.com. Dale DeGroff launched kingcocktail.com with the help of his wife, Jill.
Midori.com | In 2004 they changed it to Midori-World.com.
nycbp.com | Kevin Fitzpatrick launched nycbp.com (New York City Bar Pals). He kept a very long updated list of bars and mostly female bartenders all over the city starting in 1998.
Speedpour.com.au | Founded in by Jason Jelicich through a need for real-world, practical front-line staff training, Speedpour has since played an integral role in the resurgence of cocktails and drinking culture in Australia and around the world.
The Bar | Donald Chase launched his corner of the web called The Bar.
1999
CaptainMorgan.com
Cocktails.about.com
Extremebartending.com | Scott Young
Flairbar.com | Rob Husted launched Flairbar.com.
Flairco.com | Dean Serneels
LAbartenders.com | James Bartholet
Magicbar.com
Partyschool.com | The owner called himself the Party Master and built this site for college students.
Unknown Dates up to 2000
Adobe Deli
Aftershock.com (defunct)
Americanbar.de | German bartender site
Annie's Irish Pub
Bargeek.com
Barlogic.com
Barsrus.com | Cantina Bar Products from Tampa, FL
Bartendersonly.com
Bartending.20m.com | Italian flair bartending site
Barzone.com
Chinabartender.com
Counselor's Lounge
Crazy Joe's Surf Lounge
Cuervo.com
Cybartender.it | Spanish and English bartender site
digitalbartender.com (defunct)
Dog's Irish Pub
Fantasia's Virtual Bar
Finlandia.com
Giveitup's Lounge
Goldschlager.com
GrandMarnier.com
Happy Hour at Shannon's | Shannon's Web Pub inviting you to come to visit her in Chana, Illinois.
Hey Bartender / Kathy Hamlin who went on to the Cocktails Guide at About.com.
Kahlua.com
KetelOne.com
JackDaniels.com
Jager.com
Jagermeister.com
jbscotch.com
Jeffery's Tropical Bar
JimBeam.com
JoseCuervo.com
Laphroaig.com
Last Call | John Cutler created a bartender game in 1996 and it launched in 2000. The goal of the game is to earn tips. To earn tips, you must mix drinks quickly and accurately, as well as deal with your customers. Drinks ranged in easy challenging and the twenty patrons each had distinct personalities and quirks. The site was CutlerCreative, LLC.
Latinbar.net
Mic's Mobile Observatory and Cocktail Lounge. Michael Horn, a software engineer in Brisbane, Queensland Australia had two hobbies; cocktails and astronomy so he combined both.
Mixed-drink.com | This site never had an about or contact page, but I liked the graphics. I'm thinking that it was a school project.
Mmmartini Lounge
netbartender.com (defunct)
PartySchool.com (defunct)
Pavlock's Virtual Bar & Grill / John Pavlock
Silver Monkey's Virtual Bar
Spike's World Famous Margaritas
Swish's Back Street Tavern
The 19th Hole Sports Club
The Booze Zone
The Dancing Master Virtual Pub / Richard McLaughlin
The Hub Pub / Mike Heffernan
The Pink Otter Virtual Pub
The Virtual Bar
Vik's Space Age Lounge
zigysmartinilounge.com (defunct)
Zima.com
The Way Most Sites Looked
Some of the website images above look pretty good, but don't be fooled, most websites on the World Wide Web looked like these below.
Do you know of any sites that I'm missing? Please email it to me!
MissCharming.com Website's Through Time
The site you are looking at now is the fourth design. It started in 1998 with a generic Angelfire address which quickly changed to charmingbartricks.com, Miss Charming's Cyber Bar Hopping City. I was tending bar at Anthony's waterfront restaurant in Olympia, WA when the idea came to me. I remember telling another bartender and they looked at me like I was crazy, lol. I think it's called Anthony's Hearthfire Grill now. A couple of years later, I changed the domain to miss-charming.com (misscharming.com was taken by an Asian beauty line company). I soon added the domains misscharming.com and cherylcharming.com. If you visited my website between 1998 and 2018 then you may remember some of these images below.
The Wayback Machine still has my "Straight Up Hard and Fast Premium Flash" intro to view here. It takes you through three screens then once in the bar (photo three below) there were animated links to enter. The character was drawn by a woman in Gainesville, FL (I can't remember her name) and the site was built by Joe Schwinger. You can search for miss-charming.com in the Wayback Machine and click through time looking at the websites. It's a tremendous resource!
Below is the third design of my site between 2010-2018.
